Sunday, November 21, 2010

I have been planning to try out different airlines by flying around the world. So to make things simpler for me I choose Jakarta as I know there are a few of international carrier fly out from KLIA. It is always a last minute plan for me as I simply just go to the airport and buy the ticket at the very last minute. Lucky for me I managed to checked in moment before the counter closed.

Day 1

The flight is about two hours and since it already in the evening, I arrived at Jakarta with darkness accompanying me. Due to travelling in budget, I did not purchase the taxi ticket from the terminal. Instead, I waited outside along with few other passenger for the taxi. Be sure to take the Blue Bird taxi as it it safer. This is well known for frequent travelers.

Jakarta is known for their culture as well as their traffic jam. So be patient is all you need every time you are in Jakarta. What might seem a 45 minutes drive might end up you to two hours stuck in the traffic.

It's already late when I arrived at the hotel. Fortunately for me, the room I have book earlier was taken and they upgraded me to Penthouse Suite. It is nice and big. Basically it look just like a Studio apartment.

Grabbed a taxi and straight went to the Grand Indonesia for dinner before the restaurant were closed.

It was a long day for me so I retired to the bed right after dinner.

Day 2

I woke up a little bit late. It was already afternoon to be exact. But hey, I wanted to relax. So practically there is nothing for me to rush about. Today agenda was to explore the shopping malls and markets around Jakarta. As always, the traffic congestion made the travel limited to certain area only.

The first stop was Passer Baroe (Pasar Baru). It does looked like China Town without the Chinese vendors. The whole stretch of street are shops selling all sort of stuff.

I had my lunch at the A&W. I was surprised actually as most of the fast food served rice as their main meal. However, I still prefer the old meal thus making me to order Fish Sandwich set. Since I don't really know how to speak Indonesian language and yet again understand it, most of my conversation are in English. I guess I was giving some of the people a hard time to understand what I am saying.

Since, it is going to rain soon, I had to move fast and this time I am heading to Mangga Dua. A very famous place for people to shop in bulk at cheap price. I was thinking of buying some shirt or pants but somehow I remembered that I don't really like coming here due to the cramp space and uncomfortable smell in the air. So in just 30 minutes, I already felt uneasy and decided to just continue to my next place.

Mangga Dua Square is a huge shopping mall. Unfortunately, there are not many shops open and most likely seem to be a dead mall to me. I ended up with foot massage at one of the shop there. It is very very cheap and I can recommend it to everyone who are visiting there.

Dinner at Nasi Padang Garuda. I love the atmosphere but the price for the meal seem to be a bit to overpriced. Well, since I am doing it once awhile I guess it is alright for me.

Stayed at the hotel and watched the DVDs which I bought earlier at the mall. So one after another until it almost 3 am I think. It just like a little picnic at the living room with food all over the table.

Day 3

Basically I just stay at the room as I woke up around 11am. Watched some TV before packing back to home. I thought the traffic would be bad but I ended up early at the airport. I had like 3 hours before my flight depart back to Kuala Lumpur. Just hanging out the terminal. Lucky for me there is free Wifi at the nearby cafe so I could go online to kill my time.

Oh ya, the immigration officer asked me questions as if I were a criminal or something. So since I don't like his attitude I simply answered it each with just one word and sharp stare at him. Be polite and I am more than happy to answer the questions properly.

I was lucky to be back at Kuala Lumpur as to my understanding, a lot of flights were cancelled on the next day due to the volcanic ashes reached Jakarta area already affecting the airspace. Otherwise, I might stuck at Jakarta.